Vacuum lift device



Dec. 6, 1938. w w, CLARK 2,138,999

VACUUM 'LIFT DEVI C E Filled June `30, 1957 v mor V/M M@ Patented Dec.6, 1938 UNITED L,s'rA'i S @PATENT Torri/.CE

vvAQiJiHwil Lnr v11F-vivir r Wilmer W. spoken@ t .Application June 3o,192W,seij'iarrzgi.v v151;;'17

v 1 claim. (Ci. 17o- 156) n. This -invention relates to a vacuum liftdevice for air and water craft, and it is oneobject of the invention toprovide a device of this character of such construction that when it isincor- 5 porated in the construction of an airplane orthe 1 like, avacuum may be created over the samelj and exert an upward pull whichwill'cau the 1 air craft to rise easily. Another object of the inventionis thepr h) vision of a vacuum lift device which may mounted over thefuselage or the wingso a air craft or over the hull of a boat. whe mayvery effectively serve its. purpose and at h same time be out of theway. n

Another object of the invention is .to p

means whereby the vacuum created can'befcontrolled and thus the liftingpower ofthe device regulated. It will thus be seen that by properly.adjusting the device, an airplane .or other air craft can be caused torise easily and after reaching a desired altitude caused to remain atthis altitude.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of thischaracter which is of simple construction and very efiicient in itsoperation.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure1 is a top plan view of an air craft equipped with two of the improvedvacuum lift devices.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken vertically through one of the vacuumlift devices.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view through a vacuum lift device of amodified construction.

Figure 4 is a sectional view of another modified form of the invention.

Figure 5 is a sectional view of still another modified construction.

In the accompanying drawing, the improved vacuum lift device has beenshown incorporated in the construction of an airplane but, as previouslyset forth, it may be employed in the construction of a water craft such.as a subimarine, fast motor boat of the hydroplane type permit to riseeasily and maintain a Substantially constant height after rising to thedesired altitude. ,I The airplane illustrated in Figure l'hasthe usualbody or fuselage I having side wingswZ which are very short, and a tallassembly iof a conventional form and construction. Therehas also beenprovided the usual propeller I at the` ure 1- Their-naif :jdownwardlyth'rough a vstationary plate I5 which "is fixed upon the bodyI of the airplane in any desired manner .and carries a stuffing box I6which fits about the shaft and prevents leak- V` ageof airgabout, theJshaft.1 The shaft may be or other air or water craft which it isdesired to that it projects forwardly of the wings. While ytwo vacuumlift devices have been shown in use,

it is .to `be understood that any numberfound able-'may be provided. yth"1'acuum`devi cesis constructed as 'j 2- a-nd consists of.afcyllndrical its, upper :and klower ends by LA shaft lll extends.vertically the 'drum .axially thereof and has its in`a 's`ocket I Icarried by theL 1n ntem'ediateportion engaged sleevedjIZ of the, head 9.-V vriB lades I3 l pper edges I3'.extend7frorn the dges h areformedupongfront faces 15 adesy are'f'an importantl `feature as they"serve''ltd reduce, air friction and pressure at upperends of .thebladesl In order. to` brace'the varies or blades therev have beenprovided hoops I4 disposed in vertical spaced relationvto eachg0` otherand firmly secured to the outer freefside; edges of the blades.A Thesehoopsmaintainthe blades in proper spaced relation to i each` other andalso prevent them from loosing the. curvature shown in Figure l. Thecurvedbladesare set close together and while the best proportions 5 forpractical use can only be determined by actual use, the number of bladesin a device having a circular diameter ofzthreeffeetand a hub diameterof twelve inches will be. about thirty blades. The height of the-,bndesshoum 3 be about three feet. The reason for making the blades so high lnproportion to the width is to permit of running the device at aslowerspeed or, in other words, a fewer number of revolutions per minuteand yetmake sure that no air entering at the top can Areach the bottombefore being thrown out by centrifugal force. Referringto this figure itwill be seen that the blades of the devicer5. curve.in anopposite'direction to that of thel device 8, this beirfdue positedhetins" own by the` arrows in Fig'- 1-.:I0 of each device extendsofany. desired 'lengthi and extend downwardly 50 into the`bodyforfconnection with suitable driv- Y ing means. The plate alsocarries valvesll Iwhich are lscrewedinto lopenings formed in theplate-and connected-with pipes'IB which may be led gfromQa" suitablesource of,air under pressure.' or 55 merelyadmit atmospheric air to pass upwardlythrough theplate I5 Flow of air upwardly through` the VvalvesIIg'controls operation of .the vacuum lift ginY a manner to behereinafter set forth. It isimportant that dependable airtight 2. fvalves capable of quick, accurate anddelicate adjustmentbe us 4 Duringuse of the airplane to which the vacuum lift devices have been applied,rotary motion is imparted to the shafts In and the drums and bladescarried thereby will have rotary motion imparted to them. The twodevices rotate in opposite directions so that they will not exert aspinning edect upon the airplane. Therefore. the airplane will not betwisted and subjected to undesired strains and the normal ease withwhich it can be steered will not suffer any ill effects. As the devicesrotate at a high rate oi' speed, air will be thrown outwardly bycentrifugal force at the sides from between the curved blades asindicated by the arrows in Figure 2. Naturally. air from the surroundingatmosphere will tend to be forced into the device by atmosphericpressure to replace that thrown out by centrifugal force. No airl can`enter through the bottoms of the rotating members because the bottomsare closed in each form illustrated. Air cannot enter through the sidesbecause a stream of air is being constantly thrown out by centrifugalforce from each space between the blades and the curvature of the bladesis such that even a strong wind blowing against a side of a rotatingmember cannot enter the spaces between the blades but will be deflectedby the curvature at the outer ends of the rapidly moving blades.Therefore, the only place air can enter the rotating members is throughthe tops thereof. By having the centers closed at the tops as shown inFigures l, 2 and 5 air must .enter the rotating members at a distancefrom the centers of rotation. Ordinary atmospheric pressure issufflcient to force the air into the devices to replace that thrown outof centrifugal force. The rotating members are intended to revolve atsuch speed that air forced in at the tops by atmospheric pressure willbe thrown out the side's before it'can reach the bottoms of the spacesbetween the blades. The air at the bottoms of the spaces will be thrownout by centrifugal force and since no more air can get intol the bottomsof the spaces so long as therotating members continue to rotate at thereduisite speed, it follows that a vacuum will be formed at the bottomof each space between the blades of all the rotating members which willbe equal to a vacuum over all or nearly all of the area covered by therotating members. Lift will be gained from the atmospheric pressureexerted against the under side of the plate or cone closing the bottomof each device. Buch atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 poundsper square inch so that a device which produces a high vacuum with therotating member and which has an effective circular diameter of threefeet, will have a theoretical lift at sea level of about seven tons ormore. This will exert a lifting force and, permit the air plane to takeoi very quickly as it will have a tendency to move vertically olf theground. The devices also exert a gyroscopic ei'fect which tends tostabilize the airplane during flight and when properly adjusted permitthe airplane to malntain itself at a constant altitude instead ofgradually increasing its altitude. Maintaining the airplane at aconstant altitude isaccomplished by opening lthe valves until asufiicient quantity of air is allowed to pass 'upwardly through thecasacca plate Il to counteract the lifting effect and when itis desiredto descend, the valves can be opened until a sumcient quantity of airpasses upwardly into the vacuum lift devices to permit downward movementof the airplane. It will thus be seen that the airplane can be allowedto sink and descend in a vertical path until it rests upon the ground. Asafe landing can, therefore, be made during a fog as forward motionduring landing is not necessary. At the beginning of a flight.' rotationof the vacuum lift devices is started with the valves wide open and thevalves then slowly closed until the fuselage lifts slightly upon itssprings. One side may lift first in case the airplane is unevenlyloaded, in which case the valves will be adjusted until the lift iseven.

'I'his will trim the load and the valves can then be closed equally andthe airplane will rise from the ground when the engine is speeded up andsuillcient pull exerted by the vacuum lift devices. 'Ihe propeller willimpart forward movement to the airplane. The extent to which the valvesare closed and the speed at which the vacuum lift devices rotatecontrols the speed at which the airplane rises. When a desired altitudeis reached it is merely necessary to open the valves until no furtherlifting action is exerted beyond that necessary to maintain the airplane at the attained altitude.

In Figure 3 there has been illustrated a modified form of vacuum liftdevice. In this embodiment of the invention, the blades I9 radiate froma cone-shaped hub 20 formed with a socket to receive the upper end ofthe drive shaft 2|. A bottom plate 22 is provided and serves to insureoutward movement of air by centrifugal force as indicated by the arrows.This vacuum lift device is of considerably less height than the vacuumlift illustrated in Figure 2.

The vacuum lift device mayalso be formed as shown in Figure 4 whereinthere has been provided a conical bottom 22 from which rises a tubularhub 24. 'I'he blades 25 project radially from the hub and at their lowerends are welded or otherwise firmly secured to the bottom. The shaft 26extends through the hub and is secured therein in any desired manner.

In Figure 5 there has been illustrated another modified construction.This form of vacuum lift device has a tubular hub 21 from which theblades 28 radiate and at the top of the hub there has been mounted acap-plate or disc 2l which is of approximately one-half the diameter ofthe entire device so that air drawn downwardly will follow the pathindicated by the arrows and be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force.The plate 30 corresponds to the plate l5 and may carry valvescorresponding to the valves I1 if so desired.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A vacuum lift device comprising a tubular hub, a disc surrounding theupper end of said hub and closing the upper end thereof, and radiallycurved blades extending radially from said hub and projecting radiallybeyond the periphery of the disc, a stationary plate under ,the bladesand hub and constituting a barrier for lower ends of spaces between theblades.

WILMERW.CLARK.

